


I told you, not until you behave.

by mariamegale



Series: Call me 'sweetheart', please? [6]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Aftercare, Babe has a bad day and Eugene has to make it better, Dom/sub, Dom/sub Play, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Kink Negotiation, M/M, Possessive Sex, Spanking, brat taming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:14:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24124201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariamegale/pseuds/mariamegale
Summary: The possessive look on Gene’s face is fantastic, and maybe Babe is crossing a line here, but the way Eugene leans forward slightly gives him courage to run with it.“Bed gets cold, you start looking for ways to heat it back up,” Babe says, can’t hold back a grin at the borderline insulted look Eugene gets on his face. “What, you thought you were the only guy in Philadelphia capable of keeping a couple of sheets warm?”Eugene’s hand goes from Babe’s jaw to his throat, and it’s wonderful. Why have they never done this before? Well, because Babe doesn’t like being an asshole is why, but he forgets that under the way Gene all but growls at him.“You wouldn’t dare, Heffron,” He says, leaning in to nose at Babe’s jaw. “You really think there’s anyone else who can give you what I give you? You forget that part?”
Relationships: Babe Heffron/Eugene Roe
Series: Call me 'sweetheart', please? [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1722178
Comments: 13
Kudos: 38





	I told you, not until you behave.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sarahlu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahlu/gifts), [gottapenny (dickjokesanddoilies)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dickjokesanddoilies/gifts).



> Thank you to the wonderful people on discord who a) prompted the shit out of this and b) helped me get through this fucking dialogue, you deserve all the good things in the world and i love you <3 <3 <3
> 
> I'm posting this at 9am on a monday because it's a birthday present to myself ('cause that's not sad at all, I tell myself) and it's the only time I have to do this today lmao. get ready for some brat taming, pushed-down emotions and possessive sex, people. 
> 
> content warnings at the bottom. Love you all, hope you enjoy <3

Babe has had an awful week. 

His manager apparently forgot about a shipment, because he got a twenty-five minute call from a client that left him looking white as a sheet when he came back out from his office. As a result, Babe has been hauling stock like he’s having his spine removed next week, while at the same time trying to keep up with his normal workload.

On top of that, Eugene has been on the evening shift, so the only time they’ve really had together have been the three or so hours where their sleep schedules have lined up. Babe loves sleeping with Gene, in every way, but there’s something frustrating about going to bed alone every night and leaving Eugene to wake up alone every morning. 

When did they start to sleep in the same bed together? Babe isn’t sure, and he’s not in a mood to delve deeper into it. 

Add to it that Eugene has been doing most of his lunch prepping in the daytime, before he goes to work, which means Babe hasn’t been able to sneak notes into his lunch boxes. And that his one potted plant, a birthday gift from Shifty, died recently. And that he hasn’t gotten to kiss Gene goodbye for the whole week. And that his favourite yellow jacket has started to have a worn-out patch in one of the elbows.

Babe has not had a good week. Add the straw that he and Eugene haven’t had time to… Be together, so to speak, for at least ten days, and his mood is not on top. 

Look, Babe isn’t entitled. Nor is he some kind of nymphomaniac (Webster had once informed Babe that ‘nymphomaniac’ was apparently exclusive a word to use for women, but if that’s not exactly the kind of heteronormative bullshit Babe is against, he doesn’t know what is), but once you start to have regular sex with a person you really, really like having sex with, it’s surprisingly hard to stop.

Is he a nymphomaniac? No, at least he doesn’t think that would make him one.

He’ll have to look it up.

Anyway. He’s sitting in a blanket nest on the sofa, because that’s his go-to for emotional comfort, eating ice cream when the door to Eugene’s door opens and his roommate stumbles out, looking like he’s slept for a million years yet didn’t manage to get any actual rest.

“Hey, Edward. Mornin’,” Gene says through a yawn before he walks into the bathroom, door closing behind him with a thud Babe feels in his chest.

That’s the cherry on top, isn’t it? 

Babe might not know when they started sleeping in the same bed, but he can pinpoint the exact moment that they stopped. Three days ago, he’d woken up to a cold spot beside him where Eugene should be. He’d almost been worried, until he saw Gene’s jacket and shoes in the hallway, and then he’d actually gotten worried.

But not to fret, maybe Gene just missed sleeping in his own bed. Nothing strange about that.

Very strange how the trend continued, though. Up until last night, when Babe had woken up at hearing Eugene come home. He’d been laying wide awake, listening to the man move around the flat, from the kitchen to the bathroom and then into his own room. 

When that stupid door had closed behind Eugene, not to be opened again, Babe had curled up around a pillow, telling himself that he was annoyed, not sad. It hadn’t really worked, and it took him an hour to go back to sleep.

He hadn’t realised how big his bed was until he had to go back to sleeping in it alone. Admonishing himself for getting worked up over something that was just plain dumb at best, pathetically needy and entitled at worst, Babe inevitably woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

So a blanket nest on the sofa it was, because he felt incredibly sorry for himself and didn’t know what else to do than wrap himself up and have ice cream for breakfast to soothe the lump in the back of his throat. 

Eugene comes back out of the bathroom, looking slightly more like a human being, and he almost doesn't catch the smile on Gene's face when he sees Babe on the sofa. It makes him unreasonably annoyed, because it’s not cute, it’s frustrating. It’s very frustrating, because Babe is feeling lonely and like he’s over-reacting and sad and angry and he’s tired, and Gene looks so happy to see him. 

He has no other option than to turn all of that into pettiness. Which means that when Eugene moves past him to the kitchen, asking “Did you put on coffee, Edward?” Babe does not respond. Of course he put coffee on. It’ll taste awful, obviously, because it’s been years but he still can’t figure out the coffee maker, he’s just that fucking stupid, but Gene cannot function without coffee so he did it anyway. 

“Edward?” Eugene asks, and Babe has another nibble of ice cream instead of responding. He hears Gene pour himself a cup before returning, frowning ever-so-slightly. It makes Babe feel guilty. He refuses to look at his roommate.

Gene picks up on it anyway, because of course he does, Babe is acting like a petulant child. He puts his mug down on the coffee table, sitting down on the other side of the sofa carefully.

“Hey, you okay?”

“I’m fine.” 

Eugene looks so sincerely confused by Babe’s snappy tone, and he forces himself to stare down into his bowl instead of acknowledging that. He doesn’t know what to do and it’s all just unfair.

“Babe, what’s going on? Don’t say it’s nothing,” he cuts off before Babe can even get the words out. “What— Did I do something? Did something happen?”

Babe refuses to answer that, but then his bowl is taken out of his hands and put down on the table. He bunches his arms up and pushes his face into them instead of saying anything when Eugene scoots closer and carefully puts a hand on Babe’s back.

He will not lean into the contact. Babe doesn’t know why he’s doing this to himself, but it’s feeding something in him. Something he knows probably isn’t constructive, but feels good in a really bad way, and once he’s started it’s hard to stop.

“Sweetheart, what’s the matter? Talk to me.” And that’s it, Babe cannot deal.

“Don’t call me that,” he mutters, and takes both hurt and pleasure from the way Gene freezes up. “Don’t act like everything is just fine and dandy, Gene.”

“Babe, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Eugene’s voice is flat in a way Babe knows is intentionally so he can’t read it. Fuck this goddamned man. “You have to tell me what’s going on.”

“You— Fuck. Why, Gene? Why do I have to tell you anything? I haven’t even fucking seen you for four days.”

His roommate is looking at him with slightly narrowed eyes, like he’s really trying to figure out what Babe is talking about, and that is also frustrating. Babe is being vague as fuck, and that should get a fight going, shouldn’t it? He’s being so fucking unreasonable right now, and he knows this, and there is no way Eugene doesn’t know this, so why can’t he just be unreasonable back?

“Is this about me sleeping in my own room, Edward?” Babe obstinately doesn’t reply, and Eugene sighs the sigh of a thousand sighs. He has a long drink of coffee before continuing, like he’s not awake enough for this shit, and then turns his entire upper body towards Babe. “I’m sorry. I didn’t do it to get away from you, I should’ve made that more clear. We’ve seen too little of each other, and I know that, but you’ve also looked so tired and I didn’t want to keep waking you up.

“I’m not going to tell you I also have the right to sleep in my own bed, because I trust you know that. I didn’t mean for it to come off like I was avoiding you.”

It makes sense, and Babe has no option but to listen to reason. Doesn’t mean he’s still not frustrated. The feeling only grows when he realises that now, when they’re finally off work at the same time, he has wasted time that could have been spent cuddling by being a bitchy little jerk. Babe is tired all over and he doesn’t know what to do with himself.

“Best part of my night is when you get into bed,” is what he mumbles out, still sounding bitter, but it makes Gene smile. That’s not fair.

“Yeah? I love it. When you’re all warm and soft already, I’ve barely been able to sleep without you.”

“Then why the fuck were you doing it?”

Eugene rolls his eyes, and goes to tug on a corner of one of Babe’s blankets. “Let me in?”

Babe silently allows it, unwrapping himself so Eugene can put his legs over Babe’s lap, pulling the nest close around them both once they’re properly snuggled up. There are kisses being pressed into Babe’s neck, and he wraps his arms around Gene. It’s nice, and it’s starting to finally take the edge off that grumpy discontent in his chest.

“I missed you,” Eugene says, working his mouth up to Babe’s jaw and his cheek. “I missed you a lot, _minou_.”

“Yeah? Funny way of showing it.” 

That turns out to be the line for what Eugene has the energy to handle, because he pulls back and looks at Babe with a hard set to his jaw. Babe doesn’t exactly glare back at him, but he doesn’t exactly not glare, either.

“Okay, Heffron, I can’t— What is wrong with you?” Babe feels like he’s getting scolded, and he pouts at the general direction of the room, because he knows he deserves it. “I’m sorry I was trying to be nice and it backfired, but this is not called for. What do you want me to do? Seriously, tell me.”

Babe doesn’t know how to answer that, so he doesn’t, and ends up in a weird glare-off with Gene instead. One which Eugene apparently isn’t going to back down from, because he has his determined face on. Babe knows he’s not going to win, so he does the next best thing.

He pulls Gene into a kiss with one hand on the back of his head, fisted in short black hair.

Eugene breathes out heavily, bunching his own hands into the fabric of Babe’s shirt. It’s wonderful, just what Babe needs, hard and frustrated and rough in a way they’ve never really been before. Sure, they’ve done an amount of frantic kissing before, but this time Babe’s sulking and Eugene is clearly fed up with it. 

Gene rearranges himself so his knees are planted on either side of Babe’s hips, which seems like a great plan until Eugene uses his newfound leverage to push Babe’s mouth off of him.

“Edward,” he says sternly, and Babe has to physically hold back his groan. He’s fizzling with restless energy, he doesn’t want to do this right now. Not that Gene will care, but he tries to budge him anyway.

“Gene, I don’t wanna fucking talk, okay?” He tries to pull them back together, but the hands planted on his chest firmly stop that from happening.

“Too fucking bad, because we’re talking. What is this? What do you want?” They’re apparently rhetorical questions, because Eugene only gives pause for a second before continuing, frown on his face like he’s trying to figure out a mathematical issue. “You want me to take you down, Edward? Is that what you want? ‘Cause I can do that, trust me.”

Babe could honestly not have answered that question five seconds ago, because he didn’t have the answer himself, but once Eugene says it it’s like the other shoe drops in his own head. _Yes_ , he wants to say, _take over, because I obviously can’t deal with this shit myself_. 

He doesn’t say it, though, because it’d be too much like giving in. “Oh, you think? I’ll believe that when I see it,” is what he says instead. It’s a blatant challenge, and Eugene shows it in the way his mouth purses and his hands tighten their grip. Babe holds his gaze, the two of them frowning at each other.

“We’re setting up some boundaries,” Eugene eventually says. It’s a challenge accepted, but Babe can’t help but groan because of course, this crap where they have to actually talk, instead of Eugene just erasing his whole mind out right away. 

“Gene, I don’t care—“

“Well, tough shit, because I do,” Gene responds in a tone that doesn’t allow for discussion, planting his ass firmer down on Babe’s legs. “If anything goes too far—“

“I’ll tell you, Gene, you know that.”

“You say stop, or no. Do not try to be subtle with it—“

“Jesus, do you think I’m an idiot? Gene, I’ll fucking tell you—“ a hand comes down on his mouth, Eugene glaring at him with a look that’s suddenly more serious than playful. Babe forces himself to pause, because he can tell when they’re actually talking about something important.

“Babe, don’t fuck around right now. I need to be able to trust that you’ll tell me, because if we start this I’m going to tear you apart until you learn some goddamned manners, and I do not want you getting hurt while I do that. You understand me?”

Seriously, fuck Eugene and his ability to say shit like that with a completely serious face. Babe feels himself blush, but refuses to back down, moving his hands to grip Eugene’s knees.

“Sure, do your best,” he says when he gets his mouth back, pushing his fingers up along the insides of Gene’s thighs. “I’ll let you know if you cross a line, but I doubt you’ll be able to.” Eugene cocks an eyebrow up.

“Oh? You’re just looking to get yourself in trouble, aren’t you?” Babe shrugs, pushing his thumbs into the crease where Gene’s legs meet his hips. “Rule one: I am not going to call you names.”

“Sounds good,” Babe replies, because yeah, that’s probably not a good idea. “And so what if I am, what you gonna do about it?”

“Remind you of who is in charge around here, Heffron,” Eugene says, running his tongue over his bottom lip absentmindedly. “Rule two. No bruises. I don’t care, I do not want to see you hurt tomorrow. Three, say what you want, do what you want, but I have the right to tell you to back off if something’s not fun. Same goes for you. Yeah?”

“Yeah. If something doesn’t feel like it’s not real, I’ll let you know.” Gene nods, looking more comfortable by the second. 

“If I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it.” One of his hands come up to hold Babe’s jaw in place firmly, tilting his head back. “Or did you forget who you belong to?”

There it is, that glint in his eyes that Babe was looking for. There’s something awkward about it, but Babe ignores that, because he very much wants to see where Eugene is going to take this. He shrugs.

“Ain’t like no one’s been here to remind me of it,” he says, pushing his hands up to Eugene’s waist. “Can’t fault a guy for having his mind start to wonder.”

The possessive look on Gene’s face is fantastic, and maybe Babe is crossing a line here, but the way Eugene leans forward slightly gives him courage to run with it.

“Bed gets cold, you start looking for ways to heat it back up,” he continues, can’t hold back a grin at the borderline insulted look Eugene gets on his face. “What, you thought you were the only guy in Philadelphia capable of keeping a couple of sheets warm?”

Eugene’s hand goes from Babe’s jaw to his throat, and it’s wonderful. Why have they never done this before? Well, because Babe doesn’t like being an asshole is why, but he forgets that under the way Gene all but growls at him.

“You wouldn’t dare, Heffron,” He says, leaning in to nose at Babe’s jaw. “You really think there’s anyone else who can give you what I give you? You forget that part?”

_Fuck yes._ “What, you gonna remind me?” He laughs. “What are you gonna do, Doc? Spank me?”

He can feel Eugene’s fingers twitch, and that sends a jolt of electricity down Babe’s spine. “You’re such a brat,” Gene breathes out incredulously. “I might fucking have to if you don’t start to behave.”

Babe takes a deep breath, moving one of his hands to pull Eugene’s head up, because he needs to kiss this gorgeous man right fucking now. He doesn’t expect his wrist to be captured in a strong grip by Gene’s free hand, pressed into the blankets behind him. Babe just stares, because what the fuck?

“I don’t think so,” Eugene says, tone so hard it almost makes Babe swallow against the fingers in his Adam’s apple. “Not until you’ve learned to be good when I tell you to be.”

“Oh?” Is all he can get out, not being able to decide if he wants to push back or not. 

“Yeah,” Gene replies. He’s tense all over, like he anticipates the possibility of Babe starting to really struggle back. They’re in a stalemate, staring each other down with static electricity between them. “You wanna apologise, Edward?”

Babe licks his lips, twitching his free hand against Gene’s waist, lifts his chin up slightly. “Make me.”

It’s cliche, but it’s also crystal fucking clear, and he can see the returning smile in Eugene’s eyes. Fuck, he really wants to kiss him, Babe realises, wondering if it’d be worth whatever would come afterwards if he just wrestled Gene to the ground and pressed their mouths together.

“Get on your bed,” Eugene tells him, leaning forward to nip at Babe’s earlobe. “And wait there.”

“Oh? What the fuck are you planning to do while I do that?” Eugene smiles at him.

“I’m going to finish my coffee, and then I’ll get to you when I want to.” Babe doesn’t know if he wants to fight him on that, because he feels a bit indignant at being treated like this. But he also very much enjoys the thought of lying in wait, hoping Gene will show up, feeling his pulse race when he hears footsteps finally come down the hall—

“And what if I get started before you get there?” It’s challenging just for the sake of talking shit, and Eugene can probably tell, but that doesn’t stop him from narrowing his eyes at Babe with the hint of a grin. 

“You wanna get yourself in even more trouble, be my guest,” he mumbles, letting go of Babe’s wrist to drag his hand down Babe’s chest instead. It’s an unexpected move, and it makes his breath hitch when Gene’s hand presses over the bulge in his pyjama pants. “Trust me,” Eugene says, slowly rubbing his hand over Babe’s erection, “if you’re good, I’ll be good to you, but if you’re not I am going to make you pay for it. Got that?”

“Fuck, Gene—“

“Maybe, I haven’t decided yet,” Eugene responds, and then he’s pulling his hands away and gets up from Babe’s lap all in one movement, leaving Babe feeling untethered on the sofa. “Now get your ass on your bed, and wait for me like the good boy I know you can be.”

Babe tells himself he’s not giving in, as he gets up and does what Gene tells him. He’s not giving in, he’s just… 

Okay, so he might be giving in, but like fuck he’ll tell Gene that.

———

Eugene definitely does not run into the kitchen. Really, at most it’s a fast walk. Jesus Christ, he has not had enough coffee for this and he needs to get his dick under control.

It takes him ten minutes and two scalding cups before he feels like he can start to think properly, and once he does he’s harshly reminded that this is ten minutes that Babe has been stuck in whatever kind of limbo he’s experiencing right now. And then that brings him back to his own racing mind.

Eugene needs to get a game plan on. He also needs to get his fucking ass over there, because there is nothing he wants more in the world than to get all of Babe’s frustration out in a semi-aggressive way. Preferably with Babe on the receiving end of that aggression, but Eugene would honestly be open to switching in this instance.

Look, he’s missed the man like fucking crazy. He’s missed Babe, and he hasn’t known what to do with that feeling, so he did what any reasonable person would do and said “fuck it” to boundaries. The last few instances of sleeping in Babe’s bed he can blame on habit, but he has nothing to blame the actual habit on.

He’d come home that first night, knowing it was only the start of a long stretch of getting in at two AM, and had honestly just indulged some unexplainably self-pitying part of his own mind when he stumbled into Babe’s bed rather than his own.

When Babe had only woken up just enough to curl around Eugene’s back, pressing a sleepy kiss to the back of his neck before falling back asleep, well. Eugene had felt comforted. The next night, he did it again, and then the next night, and before he knew it a habit was formed. 

He’d forced himself to break it, because they might have been sleeping together in one sense for a while, but he didn’t know Babe’s opinion on actually sleeping together in the other sense. Eugene didn’t like putting a stop to it, but he did, because boundaries are important and exploiting the vague consent of a half-asleep man for his own comfort wasn’t a cool thing to do. 

Eugene hadn’t expected Babe to go into a hissy fit over it, and to take out his apparently pent-up frustration while Eugene was busy recovering from the thought _“does this mean I’ll finally be able to get some proper sleep in tonight?”_ by attacking him.

And that was another thing. Eugene fucking missed sleeping with Babe, in that first sense again, and he’d had plans for when they had the time for it again. And then he’d gotten slapped in the face by the image of Babe pouting and pushing and challenging him, and it had all gone out the window along with Gene’s self-control.

Okay, focus. Eugene needs to collect himself. He needs to collect himself and set up a plan and execute the shit out of it, because forcing a mouthy Babe to do as he’s told is the hottest thought Gene has ever had and he’s going to lose it if he goes into this unprepared.

He should make Babe pay for all of this inner turmoil. _I can make him pay_. Gene laughs into his third cup of coffee. God, who really needs to make plans when Babe comes up with the best ideas all on his own? He should never have doubted.

Eugene drains his mug of horrible coffee — seriously, how is it fucking possible? It’s been years. A part of Gene is convinced that Babe’s inability to make coffee is some really weird practical joke that just got way out of hand at some point — and puts the cup in the sink before taking a deep breath. Okay. 

“Okay,” he says to himself, and it’s more comforting than it has any reason to be. Like an afterthought, he grabs a bottle of water from the fridge, makes sure there’s some leftovers in there, and relaxes into the knowledge. “Okay.”

Eugene walks over to Babe’s room, taking a series of deep breaths, forcing his pulse down and smoothing his expression out. He isn’t sure what to expect, the glint in Babe’s eyes when he threatened to ‘get started on his own’ vivid in Eugene’s mind, so he stops in the open doorway on his own accord to not come off as taken aback.

Babe is tense when he comes into view, clearly having heard Gene approach, and Eugene takes in the image of his stomach muscles working as he breathes. Babe isn’t naked, but almost, wearing nothing but his black boxer shorts where he’s lying on his back. 

He’s got one of his arms under his head, giving Eugene a very good view of the length of his torso, the other one lying flat over where the sheets show clear signs of being crumpled up in his fist moments before.

Babe looks over at Eugene, licking his lips, looking nervous and excited and insubordinate all at once. Gene smiles at him, thoroughly enjoying the very deep breath Babe takes in response.

“Hey there,” he says, pushing off where he’s been leaning on the doorpost to walk over towards the mattress. “Looks like you put your time to good use,” he comments, making no attempt to hide the way he looks Babe’s body up and down. 

“Had to, didn’t I?” Babe says after a swallow, doing a pretty good job of seeming unbothered. Eugene puts the water bottle down on the bedside table, in no hurry. “With you taking your sweet time and all.”

“I told you I’d get to you when I wanted to,” Gene tuts at him, putting one of his knees on the bed and slowly leaning over Babe, leaning one hand beside the boy’s opposite shoulder until he’s hovering over him. “You think I don’t have other things to deal with besides showing you your place?”

“Oh, really?” Babe responds, simultaneously breathy and challenging. “And here I was thinking you’d been very clear about where my place was.” Eugene laughs and leans down to press his nose into the nape of Babe’s shoulder.

“No, this is just where you belong, but you knew that already,” he says, making Babe shiver by ghosting his lips up his neck. “You went so willingly, after all. Why would you do that if you didn’t agree with me?”

“I don’t know,” Babe says, curling the hand at his hips back up into the sheets, “maybe because you clearly need all the help you’re gonna get.”

Eugene rewards that by biting the flesh of Babe’s earlobe, startling a moan out of him. “I see. And that’s why you got ready for me too, huh? To make my life easier? Not because you’re so desperate to have a pair of hands on you that you couldn’t wait for me to get your clothes off?”

“Oh, fuck you,” Babe says, and that’s just not going to fly. Eugene bites down on Babe’s neck, hard enough to be surprising but not hard enough to leave a mark, and grabs his hair with one hand. He doesn’t pull on it, just holds on with a tight enough grip to make a point.

“What was that?” Gene asks, looking down at Babe’s petulant face, not letting his amusement show on his own face.

Babe flits the tip of his tongue over his bottom lip in a move that’s just downright delicious, but Eugene does not have the space to delve into that right now. He has a job to do, and that job is to appear a lot more serious than he feels. Telling Babe that he’s fucking phenomenally beautiful sometimes would probably break the charade.

“You heard me,” Babe whispers in return, corner of his mouth tugging up slightly, “sir.”

Eugene is gonna need some time. 

They’ve not exactly discussed honorifics, more like mentioned it in passing, but have both kind of settled at “it plays at something a bit more serious than what we’ve got going on here.” The general agreement was that Babe doesn’t call Gene anything specific, and Gene calls Babe every pet name under the sun.

He has a hard time seeing how that would have changed — sure, this is a bit out of the zone of their usual activities, but not so far that the entire dynamic has shifted. Or at least that’s Eugene’s take, deciding that whatever waters Babe is testing here aren’t ones he really wants to get into. They can discuss it later, if they want. 

For now, Gene decides to just reel things back a little bit.

“Nice try,” he says, leaning back from Babe’s neck so he can push on his shoulder. “But that’s not the kind of manners I expect from you.” 

Babe huffs out a laugh, stretching both his arms out over his head in a move most likely only to give Eugene a show. He recognises that, but has a hard time being thankful. Babe knows exactly what Gene likes, and of course he’s going to use this moment to play at it, when Eugene is already trying very hard to keep his fucking head on straight.

Eugene is going to drag this out until that boy is a shivering, whimpering mess under him, he swears to God. He places both his knees on either side of Babe’s hips, giving him a good angle to take the other man’s hands in his own and press them down next to his head. 

There’s so much anticipation pent up between them, this slow back-and-forth not doing much except to remind at least Eugene of all the things he could be doing instead. Playing in line with that, he starts out slow, kissing Babe’s forehead.

Gene then moves to his cheeks, the corners of his eyes, the space just in front of his ears, pressing faint kisses to any place he can reach except for Babe’s lips. When he kisses the corners of Babe’s mouth, he can feel the boy turn his face in chase of him.

“Nu-uh,” Eugene mumbles, choosing instead to kiss a trail down Babe’s throat. “I told you, not until you behave.” 

Babe groans softly under him, his hands twisting under Eugene’s grip, but doesn’t budge. Gene noses up the other side of his neck, kisses the soft skin behind his ear, takes an earlobe between his teeth. When Eugene’s kissed a line across his cheek, he hovers his lips just above Babe’s, breathing over the sensitive skin.

“You ready to be good for me, Babe?” He asks, letting their lips only just graze each other when he speaks. Babe tilts his chin up, trying to get more contact, but Eugene pulls back just enough to not allow him. “Not gonna happen,” he says, dipping down to nip at Babe’s lips but still not properly kissing him. 

“Goddamn you, Gene—“

Eugene tuts at him, having to increase the pressure on Babe’s wrist when he struggles against it. “I can do this for as long as I need to, sweetie. If you want to kiss me, you’re gonna have to play along.”

With the majority of his weight leaned on his hands, Eugene is given enough leverage to scoot his knees apart until his hips are hovering an inch away from Babe’s. He’s not quite hard yet, having been given enough time to cool down while Eugene was drinking emotional support coffee in the kitchen, but Gene guesses he’d still really appreciate the contact. 

Not that he’s going to get it. Eugene rocks his hips carefully, feeling his sweatpants drag over Babe’s dick. Through the layers of fabric, it can’t be much, but that’s also exactly what he wants, the hint of a touch with none of the satisfaction.

Babe takes a deep breath, and it’s perfect. Eugene goes back to kissing his neck, dragging his tongue down to Babe’s shoulder in a wet stripe. Babe shivers when he blows cool air on it gently, before doing it over again on his other side. 

All the while, he’s putting slightly more pressure on their hips until they’re just about grinding together. Babe has hardened up significantly and when Eugene is close enough to tell, he lifts himself back up. 

“Oh, fuck you, seriously,” Babe groans out, and Eugene nips at his shoulders.

“You really don’t want this to end, do you?” He admonishes, balancing himself up enough to push Babe’s hands up to the headboard of the bed. “Hold on. Do not let go until I tell you that you can.”

“Yeah?” Babe asks, trying out a white-knuckled grip despite the rebellious jut of his mouth. “Why would I do as you say, huh?” 

“Because if you don’t,” Eugene says matter-of-factly, sitting down on Babe’s hips and placing his fingers into the hem of Babe’s boxers, “I’m going to stop.”

“You’re such a dick,” Babe breathes out, but keeps his hands where Eugene told him to. 

Gene snorts humourlessly, dragging his knuckles over the line of Babe’s dick lightly. It draws a moan out of him, turning into a sigh when Eugene rubs his thumb under the outline of the head of Babe’s cock outside his underwear.

He keeps that up for a little while, teasing Babe to full hardness. At one point Babe closes his eyes, turning his head to the side with his bottom lip pressed between his teeth, and that’s the sign Eugene needs to move on. 

He revels in the frustrated sound that comes out of Babe when he pulls his hand away, lets it ring in his head when he palms his own erection through his sweatpants. He holds back a curse but sighs at the pressure, not stroking himself so much as just massaging his dick gently over the fabric.

“Gene— oh Jesus Christ,” Babe says like it’s a curse and Eugene opens his eyes, not sure entirely when he closed them. 

Babe has clearly tossed his head back, but is now staring at Eugene through half-lidded eyes, breathing very slowly for a guy looking so unraveled. Gene hums at him inquisitively before pushing his hands down into his boxers, hips rolling almost subconsciously at the joint excitement of the touch and the look on Babe’s face.

“Yes, Edward?” Gene asks casually, watching as Babe’s fingers twitch against the wood of the headboard.

“This is cruel, even for you,” Babe says airily when Eugene pushes his other hand up his own shirt. It’s purely for show, and Babe can’t not know that, but he still sounds like he’s being strangled when Eugene half-laughs, half-moans. “Goddamnit, you fucking tease—“

“Don’t,” Eugene says, seeing Babe’s grip on the headboard relax like he wants to let it go, and they can’t have that happen now, can they? “I told you, I’ll have to stop if you do that, and I really don’t want to.”

He punctuates the thought by bringing his hand up to his face, licking it from palm to fingertip with the broad of his tongue before putting it back on his dick. They don’t break eye contact for a second of it, and Gene can see how Babe’s mind is struggling to deal with the whole situation.

“Though the deal was that you’d be touching me, not yourself,” Babe breathes out, and Eugene shrugs, pinching one of his nipples with a sigh. 

“Sure, but you’re no use to me when you behave like this, so I have to take care of myself, don’t I?” Eugene lolls his head back, closing his eyes. “God, _mon cœur_ , you should feel how hard you’ve gotten me. Even when you’re acting like this, I can’t fucking help myself, can I? You’re so good to me, sweetie. I wish I could be good to you back, fuck, I’d be so good to you.”

Babe stares into the ceiling for a few seconds. Eugene can almost hear him count to ten in his own head, collecting himself, and that’s no good. Always one for authenticity, he twists his own hand over the head of his cock with an accuracy he’s spent some fifteen years fine-tuning, and it draws another long moan out of him. 

“ _Mon dieu,_ _minou_ , sweetheart, goddamnit, do you know I’m thinking of you? Of your hands on me, _mon chaton,_ that beautiful mouth, kissing—“

“Fuck, Jesus— Fine, Gene, God,” Babe rants out, his whole upper body tensing up, and Eugene knows his smile is smug but he really doesn’t care. “Tell me what to do, I’ll do it, fuck, just let me touch you, Gene.”

“Are you sorry?” Eugene asks, breathing deeper than he really needs to, just to see the effect it has on Babe.

“Yes, God, I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry, Gene, just please—“

“I don’t know, you don’t sound very sorry to me.” Babe groans, screwing his eyes shut. Eugene is going to have to be careful, because if he comes at this point it’s going to mess up his plans, so he pulls his hands off himself. Palming Babe’s dick instead, which gets a very guttural response, he leans down to kiss the soft skin just above Babe’s navel. 

“I promise you, I’m very sorry, Gene, tell me what to do, god damn it,” Babe groans, trying to buck his hips but not getting far between the weight of Gene on his thighs and his own grip on the headboard.

“You’re gonna have to prove it to me, _minou_ ,” Eugene says, wrapping his fingers around Babe properly outside of his boxers. He gives the boy a squeeze, smiling into his skin at the stuttering breath he gets in return

“Fuck— Yes, fuck, anything, Eugene, anything you fucking want.” He’s never been this verbal before, not during this kind of play at least, and there’s a part of Gene that makes him feel like he should rile Babe up more often.

He pulls his hands away so he can crawl up the length of Babe’s body, the man tilting his head up longingly at him. Eugene obliges, because Babe really has deserved that much, and kisses him deeply. 

The breath coming out of Babe is like he’s been holding it for an hour, shaking and followed by a panting intake as his mouth moves against Eugene’s desperately. Gene keeps them like that for a few moments, giving them both a bit of time to cool down, before pulling back and moving off Babe to lie down at his side again.

“Time to see just how sorry you are,” he says when Babe whines unhappily. “Turn over, Edward. You can move your hands now.”

Babe’s eyes are glassy as he licks his lips, still for a moment before obeying. Gene enjoys seering the way Babe’s hips roll when he presses them into the mattress, but keeps him from getting too excited with a firm hand on the small of his back. 

“Stop that,” he says, moving down to pull Babe’s underwear off carefully. The boy bunches a pillow up under his arms while Eugene comes back up beside him, pressing his face into the side of Babe’s cheek. “You ready to show me how sorry you are, sweetheart?”

“Gene,” Babe says, voice almost a whisper. Eugene is stroking his hand up and down the lowest part of Babe’s back, not quite over his ass but not far from it. When he doesn’t say anything else, Eugene kisses his temple.

“Think you can do ten?” he says in a low voice, paying very close attention to how Babe reacts. Earlier talk notwithstanding, Eugene isn’t oblivious of his own responsibility here. This is new ground, and he wants to make sure everything is clear as day before they go into anything.

Babe closes his eyes with a nod, giving a breathy “Yeah,” in response. His whole back is moving under Eugene’s hand in a motion Gene recognises as anticipation, rather than anxiety. He moves his hand further down, and Babe lets out a shaky breath into the pillow. It’s almost a moan, and Eugene is convinced.

“We’ll start with ten, then,” he says, heart pounding very hard in his own chest.

Spanking, or physically rough stuff of any kind, really, has never been a huge thing for Eugene. He’s had some experiences with it, and they weren’t bad per se, just not his personal cup of tea. Gene isn’t into pain, neither dealing or receiving, but he doesn’t mind doling mild doses of it out if it’s asked of him. And Babe has very clearly been asking for it

However, the way Babe reacts when Eugene smacks him on the ass the first time, with a twitch and a cut-off whine, almost changes his mind in one fell swoop of his own hand. Gene does it again, and again, and it’s stupid, she full-body shivers Babe gets from it, biting into the pillow in his arms.

“You’re doing well, sweetie,” Eugene says when he remembers himself, because what the fuck is happening here, he never forgets himself. He braces his weight differently on the bed, at a better angle to hit Babe’s skin with his whole hand, and deals numbers four and five quickly.

He knows enough of the basics to be familiar with the concept of warm-up — Eugene focuses on the round areas of Babe’s ass first, not being too hard, just making a soft rosy flush bloom over his skin. Once that’s done, if they want to, they can move on to harder stuff, but there is no way in hell he’s going to risk hurting this beautiful boy more than is necessary.

So while Eugene feels an unexpected urge to move himself into a better position to reach, to hit harder, to draw louder noises out of Babe, he forces himself to stay leaned on one arm while working up to nine hits against Babe's skin.

He is, once again, surprised by just how responsive Babe is. He twitches with every impact of Eugene’s hand on him, eyes screwed shut and cheeks flushed, moaning between hitched breaths. It’s beautiful, almost like he’s an instrument Eugene’s playing, which is an image he needs to beat away almost as hard as the next slap to Babe’s ass. Not the time.

“Last one,” he mumbles, getting a nod and a whine in response. Babe’s skin is warm underneath Eugene’s hand, and he scratches blunt fingernails over it softly. He gets a broken groan in response, which is nice, but not good enough. “You think you’re ready to be good for me now?”

“Yes, Gene, I— Fuck, I’ll be good, I promise.” It’s wet and sincere, said in a weak voice filled to the brim with conflicting emotions. Eugene kisses the side of Babe’s head. 

“Good boy,” he says, and puts all the weight he can behind the last one. It makes his own hand sting, the impact so low on Babe’s ass it almost hits his thighs. Babe lets out a long whine, pressing his face into the pillow, back tensing and relaxing like ripples on an ocean before Eugene’s eyes. 

He spends a few seconds just pressing kisses into Babe’s shoulder and neck while the man decompresses a little, only feeling good to change things up when he turns his head to Gene with a needy little noise. Eugene obliges him with a kiss immediately.

“There you are, my sweet thing,” he mumbles into it, carefully rolling Babe to his side. He gets a moan in response and hushes him gently. “It’s okay, shh, I’ve got you, _doudou, chérie_ , I’ve got you.”

Babe is happy to just be kissed for a few moments, before opening his eyes to look at Eugene pleadingly. “Gene, please,” he begs like the good little thing he is, “tell me what— I want to be good for you, Gene, let me—“

“Yeah?” Gene responds, because he absolutely can work with that. “You want to be good? Show me what a good, sweet thing you are?” Babe moans, nods, and clings to Eugene with unsteady hands. “You can do that. Get on the floor, on your knees, here.”

He gives Babe a few pillows to kneel on, putting him in front of where Eugene seats himself on the edge of the mattress. Gene pulls his shirt off slowly, trying very much to seem in control and not like his mind is running a million miles a minute, very much enjoying the swallow Babe gives when he pulls his trousers and underwear down and off. 

In the middle of all of it, Eugene’s dick isn’t exactly painfully hard anymore, but it doesn’t take too many strokes of his own hand to get himself back up there. Especially not when Babe whines, an echo of his earlier predicament, and looks up at Gene with round, pleading eyes.

“What’s the matter, _chérie_?” Eugene asks breathlessly because God, he could just get off to this image alone. Filing that idea away for a rainy day, he cups Babe’s face with his free hand. “You want to suck me off, _minou_?”

Babe moans, and nods, and Eugene moves his hand to the back of Babe’s head gently, pulling him in. “You can, darling, fuck— show me, show me how good you are, _chaton_ , what a good little kitten you can be for me, _mon Dieu_ —“

Babe gets his mouth on Eugene’s dick almost desperately, licking around the head before pressing his lips down around him with a truly impressive amount of spit involved. Gene gets a string of curses out that would get him a lifetime ban from his old church if they were there to hear it, because Babe’s mouth is wet and tight and warm and fucking brilliant, and he’s pressing his tongue to the underside of Eugene’s cock in a purely sinful way.

“God, _mon cher,_ that’s it, fuck, you’re so good. You always feel so goddamn good, like you were made for this, made for me and for this and for being such a good little—“ Gene cuts himself off before he can say something he shouldn’t, promised he wouldn’t, but Babe moans around him anyway. It’s making Eugene curl his fingers tight in Babe’s red hair, pulling his head off.

“Deep breath, darling,” he says, and Babe obliges, almost panting. His mouth is red, eyes wide open, and it’s just the most fantastic sight in the world. “And another. You ready to take all of it? Just like you do, in that way I love, you ready, _chaton_?”

Babe nods, biting his own lip under the praise, and eagerly allows Eugene to push his head back down, closing his eyes as Gene’s hand slowly guides himself deeper into Babe’s mouth. He doesn’t understand how the fuck Babe can even do this, needs to learn it himself someone so he can pay the man back, because Jesus Christ—

“ _Mon Dieu et tous les anges_ —“ Babe’s lips just continues down, past the back of his mouth, until Eugene is pushed all the way into his throat, and then Babe fucking moans around him. It’s a guttural, choking noise, and it’s sending vibrations through Eugene’s cock. He might actually be whiting out of a second with the feeling of it. “Jesus— Sweetheart, I’m— Fuck—”

It should actually be funny, this charade that Eugene is the one in control here, because he always turns into putty the second Babe Heffron puts that filthy fucking mouth on him. It’s almost embarrassing how quickly he comes, but Babe is there to get him through it — swallowing around Eugene, like he’s literally pulling it out of him, and the thought sends another jolt down his spine — and Gene really doesn’t give a shit.

When he’s done, panting and frizzling with endorphins, Babe pulls his mouth off with a sloppy noise and stares up at Eugene with wet eyes. Gene needs a second to remember how his fucking body works but then he’s pulling Babe up into his lap, the man going willingly, moaning before Eugene even gets a spit-wet hand on his dick.

“There’s my good boy, finally,” Gene tells him through a kiss, tasting himself on Babe’s tongue, stroking him with little finesse and even less patience. Babe moans, wrapping his arms around Eugene’s neck like he’s holding on with everything he has. “Do you want to come for me, sweetheart?”

“Yes, Gene, yes, please,” Babe pants, sounding absolutely ruined and so, so trusting. It tugs at Eugene’s fucking heart, is what it does.

“You think you’ve been good enough for that?” He says, because Gene feels a need to tie this whole thing together. “You’ve learned your lesson?”

Babe nods frantically against Eugene, looking turned on and scared and hopeful and hesitant. “Yes, Gene, I promise, I promise—“

“I don’t know, maybe I still need to show you how to fucking behave, yeah?” Babe looks like he might start to cry, still holding on to Eugene like his life depends on it, hips rolling with a tremor. “Might have to just force you to stay in this bed, stay like this, keep you hard and wet and waiting for me until you learn where you belong, who you fucking belong to.”

“You, I’m yours, I know, please, please, Gene, please, let me—“ 

He’s so close, Eugene can tell, screwing his eyes shut and pressing himself into Gene, desperately trying to hold back until he gets permission, until Eugene fucking gives him permission. He tightens his fist, just to hear Babe give a choked whimper. “You gonna be good next time I ask you to?”

“Yes, I promise, please, I promise, I’ll be good, always, Gene, I’ll be your good boy, please—“

If he had Babe’s refractory period, Eugene would be hard as a fucking rock just hearing that, and he’ll later spend hours trying to come up with a way to hear it before he comes, some time.

For now he settles for twisting his hand, kissing Babe’s fucked-red, pretty mouth, and tells him, “good. You can come now, if you want, come for me, _chérie, minou, mon cœur_ —“

He does, with a sob and a moan and a tremor so bad Eugene has to hold him upright. He helps him through it, until Babe is shivering and sniffling into Gene’s shoulder. He presses a smattering of kisses to Babe’s cheek, rocking them gently, until the boy calms down enough that Eugene feels comfortable moving them.

“Come on, _mon chou_ , let’s get you lying down, yeah?” 

Babe lets him, reluctantly, clinging to Eugene like he’s afraid to let go. Gene goes along carefully, slow and signalling every move beforehand so as to not surprise Babe with anything. He cleans the worst of it off them with the wipes they keep in the bedside table, before getting out a thing of aloe he’s spotted next to them a couple of times.

It’s probably kept there because Babe sunburns easily, but today it’s going to be put to better use. Gene assumes Babe will forgive him for commandeering his shit. 

“Hey, sweetie, turn around for me,” he mumbles against Babe’s lips, coaxing the boy over with soft touches until he’s once again lying on his stomach, taking shallow breaths and burying his face in the pillows. “This may be a bit cold, _chérie_ , but it’ll feel good, I promise.”

Eugene doesn’t really think that Babe is really going to suffer any serious residual stinging, but some caution can’t hurt. Plus, there is the whole symbolic part of it, which is honestly much more of a selling point for Gene. He gets to take Babe apart, hurt him and make him cry, but more importantly he gets to put him back together like the absolutely precious, invaluable thing he is.

So he takes great care to massage the cream into Babe’s pink ass, until it feels cool and smooth and Babe is breathing more evenly under him. The never-ending stream of kisses, reassurances and praise might have helped too.

He finds their discarded clothes — his on the floor, Babe’s folded neatly to the side, which is such a role-reversal he almost laughs — and pulls on his own sweats before gently coaxing Babe’s soft flannel pyjama pants back on him.

Then Eugene finally gets to his favourite part, which is pushing the sheets down and bundling Babe up in his lap under them, pressing kiss after kiss to his lips, his cheeks, his forehead, anywhere he can reach under a steady murmur of kind words.

“You were so good, _ma chérie_ , like you always are. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you, you sweet, beautiful thing, _mon petit chaton, mon chou_ _,_ darling sweetheart, dear of mine.” Babe shivers in Eugene’s arms, nuzzling into Eugene’s neck with a deep, shaking breath. “Hey there, love, you with me? You here with me, pretty boy?”

“Yeah,” Babe whispers, sounding small and vulnerable and almost ashamed. “I’m sorry, for… For being, for—“ 

Oh, they can’t have that. “You have nothing to be sorry for, sweetie,” Eugene tells him, stroking Babe’s hair slowly with one hand. “If you did, it’s over now. I know you’re my good, sweet little thing, it’s okay. I’m sorry, for making you feel forgotten. That’s my fault, and you should never have felt like that.”

“I missed you,” Babe says, breathing against Eugene’s collarbone like he’s trying to consume a part of him. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, _minou_ ,” Gene responds, tilting Babe’s chin up so he can kiss him sweetly. They both hum into it for a little while. “I hated every second of it,” he murmurs, pressing light kisses to Babe’s lips between words. “Never want to be away from you.”

“You mean that?” Babe asks, looking up at Eugene with eyes that are both open and foggy at the same time. God, he’s so beautiful. A hand is pressed against Gene’s heart and he’s being held hostage by this boy and his touch and his mouth and his voice.

Eugene nods, trapped in place, bringing his hand up to stroke a finger over Babe’s knuckles. “Yeah. Yeah, sweetheart, I do.”

“Oh,” is the response he gets, a small smile flickering on Babe’s face. “That’s good.”

Eugene doesn’t know if he wants to laugh or cry, and that makes no sense, but he can’t find it in himself to put a stop to it. Instead he just closes his eyes, kisses Babe again, feeling his heart ache when it’s returned. It’s like a promise. For what, he can’t say, but he really hopes they’ll both keep it.

For a few minutes, that’s all they do, lazily making out, enjoying their afterglow while the noon sun filters in from outside, and it’s the closest thing Eugene has ever gotten to a perfect fucking moment. 

There are things screaming in his head, a door in the back of his mind he’s bolted shut for a long time because he doesn’t know what to do with it, but he shushes it down again. It’s too nice, just this, just holding Babe and feeling his soft lips against his own, knowing there’s no hurry in the world because they have no plans for the rest of the day.

Eventually they’re going to get up, take a shower together, he’ll get Babe to eat something and pour out the awful, now cold batch of coffee he made earlier, replacing it with a good one. Gene will roll his eyes but help Babe to another bowl of ice cream, because he makes a good case that he deserves it, and Eugene will inevitably end up eating half of it. 

They’ll laze together on the sofa, Babe watching a tv show with Eugene leaned against his chest, finally finding the time to finish that book he’s been working through. After a few hours they’ll start bickering about what to make for dinner, and then Renee will call, leaving Babe to fend for himself while Eugene talks her down from an essay-induced stress attack. 

They might eat on the balcony, talking about their upcoming schedules while enjoying the sunshine, the promise of summer finally descending on them. Eugene will be coaxed into talking about Louisiana, and Babe will suggest they go down to visit, and it’ll sound like another promise.

Then he’ll steal one of Eugene’s cigarettes just to laugh at the face he makes, and they’ll enjoy the mock-grumpy silence together.

It’ll be nice. Eugene doesn’t want to ruin it by delving into his own head. So instead he just kisses the boy in his arms, telling both Babe and himself just how lucky he is to have him.

**Author's Note:**

> CONTENT WARNINGS:
> 
> \- Dom/sub play.
> 
> \- Arguably half-assed negotiation. I can promise you, though, these two boys have had a long time to get to know each other, their boundaries, their likes and dislikes etc. They know what they're doing and take care with each other. Still, though.
> 
> \- Possessive speech, hints at "infidelity" and mild insecurity in a non-established relationship. It's all for show and they know it.
> 
> \- Spanking. It's appreciated. 
> 
> \- Mildly rough play. Also appreciated.
> 
> \- Idk, Babe feels lonely and frustrated so he acts like a dick? It's unfair but they deal with it. No one is hurt for long.
> 
> Let me know if there's anything I should add, you lovelies <3
> 
> * * *
> 
> Like I mentioned above,
> 
> [we have a BoB discord! Yay! you should come join up](https://discord.gg/JZVc2Jk), it's a fun place 2 b <3 
> 
> [Also, you know, come say hi on tumblr, talk kink to me and stuff.](https://mariamegale.tumblr.com/)
> 
> At the writing moment I have a lot of prompts piled up, which makes me feel so fucking flattered I have a hard time even getting started for that reason, you guys are so fucking sweet <3 so it might take some time to get to it, but I promise I'll do my best!
> 
> Love you all and hope you have a lovely day wherever in the world you may be <3


End file.
